State issues payments for unemployment

MADISON – The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) began issuing determinations and payments for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) applicants May 21. Those who are eligible for PUA are being notified via USPS as well as in their claims portal. For eligible applicants, a link will go live in the claims portal that will allow weeks to be claimed for benefits.

The department received over 80,000 PUA applications since April 21.

“Due to PUA being a brand-new federal program and in order to ensure accurate payments, DWD conducted additional testing prior to deployment. While understanding the potential impacts of a minor delay in deployment, we felt it prudent and responsible to prevent any widespread issues that could cause even greater delays and hardship. We understand many claimants have been patiently waiting for PUA. Please know that DWD is committed to paying out eligible benefits as fast as possible,” the department release said.

Processing PUA is different from other unemployment claims,so it takes much longer to process an application. the department said. Much of the information has to be entered manually into the benefits system.

Now that the PUA platform is deployed, the department has staff dedicated to processing new determinations and will continue to onboard more over the coming weeks.